Escape Wonderland

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Overview

After two previously successful escape rooms, we are thinking of making this a tradition. This year we had a new backyard and more space to create a more elaborate game. We decided to go in the opposite direction as our last horror one with Alice in Wonderland for the theme.

Understand the problem

How to make an escape game in a nut shell

1. Dream up an inspiring theme
2. On a board, break your story into 3 phases, your problem, climax, solution
3. On post-it notes, write down your favorite puzzles
4. Weave 7-10 puzzles through your story
5. Theme your puzzles
6. Build and play!

Design the solution

Game rules‍‍

1. Do not force anything. If a box or object doesn’t open or is easily movable, you need to find a way to open it, or it is a fixed prop.
2. Once in Wonderland, the border is at the edge of the grass marked by flamingos; everything you need is accessible in that area
3. There  may be items in the lemon tree and bushes; you do not need to go into the lemon tree or remove any items from them
4. There is a tea party, but you need a complete invitation before you can join the unbirthday party
5. Use Game pieces once. You won’t need them after you solve it. Put the lock in the box and all the content on the card table on the grass.
6. Last but not least, have fun! Look for items and patterns between them. If you feel stuck, feel free to ask the red queen, tweedle Dee or tweedle dumb for help

Story

You were beginning to get very tired of sheltering in place and having nothing to do. While you were daydreaming, suddenly, a White Rabbit ran close to your window.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that until you hear the Rabbit say to itself, `Oh dear! Oh, dear! I shall be late!’ when the Rabbit took a watch out of its waistcoat pocket, looked at it, and then hurried on. You ran across the street after it and, fortunately, was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment down, you went after it, never once considering how you were to get out again in the world. After falling to the bottom of the rabbit hole, you come across a massive door. You think maybe this might be the way in, but you wonder how to open a more significant door than yourself?

Once inside, you will experience a wonderland beyond our reality. However, if you are in the wonderland of reality for longer than 45 min, you will be trapped forever. Enjoy yourself but make sure you find a way out in time.

Mushroom algebra puzzle

Made from painted thrift store bowls, cardboard tubes and taped the symbols inside. The answer opened the lock to our backyard.

Hidden code croquet

Players were curious about the playing card croquette. It was the most challenging puzzle, and all groups thought they needed to play the game with the mallets to trigger something. We arranged the oversized cards with yard staples in a specific order to create three poker hands. They revealed three numbers for a lock combination when you visually traced them in order. The clues were taped to the croquet balls and hidden throughout the game.

Riddle cans

The queen of hearts needs all of her white roses painted red, so I was inspired when I found an old collection of paint cans in the garage. I mapped out a riddle that was easily printed and spray mounted to the cans. We hid them throughout the queen's garden.

Cheshire smile detector

I can take credit for cutting out and painting the Cheshire cat and flowers. I will need to defer to my brother Davin for the facial recognition camera. As a result of his genius, when a player connected Give feline flipped frown the riddle to the cat and smiled, a magnet would release a key.

Say see

The "say see" puzzles in our Saw escape room were a big hit, so we returned them. This time the words were less ominous. Players had to say what they saw and use those mystery words in a crossword puzzle to get a letter combination. We used boxes from Micheals and attached hinges from our previous game.

Counting puzzle

I used three themed objects in amounts aligned to a lock combo for the counting puzzle. Ten clocks with rabbits, seven cut out paper hearts, and four red flowers. I created a sign that connected the numbers and sequence to a lockbox.

Gate

Since we didn't have actual doors to separate rooms and gate puzzles we devised an invitation that you needed to attend the Mad Hatter tea party. The gate prevented players from going straight to the phase 3 puzzles and skipping the rest. The invitation was made of 3 pieces that when found and assembled had a complete invite.

Hidden message

A cipher puzzle is a secret or disguised way of writing code. I used butterfly stickers to match letters that spelled Chase The Shadow. The trick was the teacups were mixed up, so players had to match the cups and saucers to get a usable cipher. The clue leads to the rabbit shadow puzzle. While players were solving the cipher, we released the rabbit, Skyler, in a bunny costume.

Shadow puzzle

We spread the shadow puzzle pieces and flashlight across different locked puzzles to delay completing the last puzzle and the game. Chris meticulously mapped out and tested different shapes on the computer to get the pieces' proper perspective, size, and spacing. Once they were aligned correctly, the random wood cutouts turned into a rabbit's shadow. When players were finally able to catch the rabbit, they found a code on his tag.

Reward

Of course, it wouldn't be a game without a sweet reward. I baked some "eat me" shortbread cookies to tie to the storyline of growing and shrinking to escape wonderland. They were delicious and a crowd favorite.

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Validating the solution

Test run

Our supportive neighbors volunteered to do a test run of the game. While we observed them playing the game, we were able to make tweaks to optimize the experience.

• They were nervous about breaking the mushrooms, so I re-phrased my intro rules.
• I originally had pictures glued to the top of the box as decoration. However, the players read too much into the art and get distracted from the game.
• There was a missing butterfly in the cipher message.
• The reference card and invitation were the exact sizes, so they thought they went together.
• There was a missing letter space on the crossword puzzle.
• There was a missing "say see" puzzle.

Our neighbors were excited and nervous as it was their first escape game, but they escaped and had a blast in the end.

Results and learnings

• The game was a hit, and we successfully had six groups of 4-6 complete escape Wonderland with hints.
• The backyard worked well, but all the puzzles will need to be water and windproof if we do it again.
• We will need to account for lighting, as when the sun was setting, it was harder to solve the cipher puzzle.
• The card croquet draw a number puzzle was the most challenging, and having the croquet clubs out as decoration acted as an unintentional red herring.
• Everyone's favorite puzzle was the shadow puzzle and catching the rabbit. We will need to incorporate Skyler in future games.
• I was surprised when players showed up matching the team name I gave them. Team names will be a must in the future.